Alexis Wright's The Swan Book was published by Atria Books in June 2016.
Information about Alexis Wright:
Alexis Wright, a member of the Waanyi nation of the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria, is one of Australia's finest writers. Her previous novel, Carpentaria, won the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's most prestigious literary prize.
Information about The Swan Book:
An inventive, cacophonous novel about an Aboriginal girl living in a future world turned upside down - where ancient myths exist side-by-side with present-day realities.
Oblivia Ethelyne was given her name by an old woman who found her deep in the bowels of a gum tree, tattered and fragile, the victim of a brutal assault by wayward local youths. These are the years leading up to Australia’s third centenary, and the woman who finds her, Bella Donna of the Champions, is a refugee from climate change wars that devastated her country in the northern hemisphere. Bella Donna takes Oblivia to live with her on an old warship in a polluted dry swamp and there she fills Oblivia’s head with story upon story of swans. Fenced off from the rest of Australia by the Army, its traditional custodians left destitute, the swamp has become “the world’s most unknown detention camp” for Indigenous Australians. When Warren Finch, the first Aboriginal president of Australia invades the swamp with his charismatic persona and the promise of salvation, Oblivia agrees to marry him, becoming First Lady, a role that has her confined to a tower in a flooded and lawless southern city.
In this multilayered novel, winnter of the Australian Literature Society's Gold Medal, Wright toys with the edges of the world we live in to offer us an intimate portrait of the realities facing Aboriginal people. We meet talking monkeys, genies with doctorates, spirit-guiding swans, and a whole cast of characters drawn from myth and legend and fairy tales. Through symbolism and a dazzling linguistic dexterity - the blending of words and phrases from high and low culture, from English, Aboriginal languages, French, and Latin - Wright beautifully demonstrates how the power of the human imagination can set us free.
A REVIEW OF ALEXIS WRIGHT'S THE SWAN BOOK
Alexis Wright's The Swan Book is a significant addition to literary speculative fiction. It's a genre-bending masterpiece of evocative prose and powerful imagery that blends ancient myths and legends in a powerful and thought-provoking way. It's a novel that has both style and substance.
The Swan Book was originally published in Australia in 2013 and later in Great Britain in 2015. It's great that Atria Books has published it in the USA and expanded its market area, because it's a novel that deserves more publicity due to its contents.
The events in The Swan Book take place in the future around the time of Australia's third centenary. The world has been fundamentally altered by climate change and many things have changed - towns have been closed, cities have been boarded up and communities have been abandoned. The world has been ravaged by floods, droughts, fires and blizzards. It's a world where Aboriginal people are living in a fenced and army-controlled detention camp where a contaminated swamp rules the landscape.
The protagonist is called Oblivia Ethelyne. She was given this name by an old woman, Bella Donna of the Champions, who found her from the bowels of an old eucalyptus tree. The old woman took Oblivia to live with her in a polluted dry swamp that is fenced off the the rest of the world by the army.
Oblivia has been through a lot and her life has not been easy. She is mute and has been traumatised, because she is a victim of gangrape. She can make only a few sounds, but she has a brilliant mind. She lives in an old hulk on the swamp. Her accommodation is surrounded by black swans and rusting and rotting boats that litter the swamp.
The author follows Oblivia's life in an engaging way. Oblivia's unique voice is a pleasure to read, because the way she thinks about the world and the happenings around her has a bittersweet edge to it that is lacking from many novels. Not only does the author follow Oblivia's life, but she also writes about Warren Finch's life and fleshes out his thoughts and reveals things about him.
The cast of characters is captivatingly strange and versatile. Reading about Aunty Bella Donna of the Champions, the Harbour Master, Warren Finch, a talking monkey and the genies with doctorates was fascinating for me. Bella Donna is a European climate refugee who has come to Australia. Warren Finch is an interesting man, because he has been educated by Aboriginal customs and becomes a political leader, a president.
The author writes beautifully about the swans and how they are a guiding presence to Oblivia. The swans are an important part of Oblivia's world.
Alexis Wright writes rich, descriptive and poetic prose that sparkles with nuances. Her beautiful prose is rich with bittersweetness, metaphors and symbolism. In my opinion, her narrative skills are superior to many authors, because she dares to blend various elements and experiments with certain things. She creates a heartbreaking narrative that examines the fate and culture of Australia's indigenous people in a touching way.
One of the most important reasons why The Swan Book stands out among others of its kind is that Alexis Wright writes well about Aboriginals. It is not often that readers have an opportunity to read about Aboriginals and their culture in such a rich and powerful way.
I think it's great how fluently and deeply the author explores the harsh realities and difficult situations that Aboriginal people have to face. Her way of writing about Aboriginals and their way of life cuts straight to the reader's heart, because she doesn't shy away from challenging and difficult material. I think that most readers have heard of what has happened to Aboriginals over the years and how badly some of them have been treated, so the happenings will have an emotional impact on many readers.
By blending realism with fantastical elements Alexis Wright is able to write about delicate issues in an original and inventive way. This novel is a prime example of how well a talented author can write about almost anything by means of speculative fiction, because speculative fiction allows authors freedom to explore difficult and painful issues in a striking and memorable way.
Worldbuilding is excellent, because the author delivers a bleak vision of a changed world. As a fan of dystopian science fiction, I enjoyed reading about how everything had changed and how it effected people.
Because The Swan Book is not an easy novel, it is not for hasty readers who rush through stories and never stop to think about what they've just read. It may not be for everyone, because it has been written for thinking adults. It's a novel that rewards its readers with a rich tale that has plenty of depth and layers, because underneath the beautiful prose lies a wealth of depth and raw emotion.
I was amazed at the quantity of various elements, because the author has added elements of magical realism, fantasy, science fiction, satire and politics etc to her story. I also marvelled at the author's ability to use stream of consciousness kind of narrative along with normal narrative mode.
I took my time reading this novel and I'm glad that I did so. If I had read it faster, I probably would've missed out on a lot of important elements and hidden meanings, because the text is filled with depth and thoughtfulness. In my opinion, this novel benefits from thoughtful reading, because it has the power to make you think about the world and people around you. The more you think about what you've just read, the more you'll enjoy the story.
When I began to read this novel, Alexis Wright's evocative and rich writing style immediately impressed me. Her use of expressions and language felt refreshingly vivid. I loved her way of writing about Oblivia and her extraordinary life. She wrote so well about Oblivia, her life and her feelings that I found myself being wholly spellbound by the unfolding story.
I think that readers who are familiar with the works of Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell will be pleased to read this novel and will devour it as fast as possible. This may sound a bit exotic and strange, but this novel reads a bit like a blend of Atwoodian dystopian science fiction and Mitchellian originality with a dash of harsh and unyielding realism. It also has a touch of the slightly experimental storytelling and narrative technique found in Tom McCarthy's C.
I give The Swan Book full five stars on the scale from one to five stars, because it's a literary masterpiece. I was deeply impressed by the story, because it's been a while since I've read anything as rich and thoughtful as it.
Alexis Wright's The Swan Book should be read by everyone who loves literary speculative fiction and beautifully written literary fiction. It's a fascinating combination of sparkling imagination, compelling storytelling and good prose.
Highly recommended!